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Abandoned Mine Lands, Southern Illinois “By creating photographs to document the way the land has been abused, I am trying to raise public awareness of this type of landscape, as other photographers have done, but with a unique perspective,” Jonathan Long says in his MFA thesis “Pre-Law Wastelands: Abandoned Mine Lands of Southern Illinois” (Long, 4). To illustrate the effects mining has on the environment, Long created a series of 360 degree panoramic pictures titled “Pre-Law Wastelands: Abandoned Mine Lands of Southern Illinois.” One former mining area in Illinois is Sahara Woods. Long’s Fall Colors was taken there. As he put it: “Fall Colors surrounds the viewer in one direction with a pallet of beautiful fall colors contrasted with a view of a barren mine residue in the other. The mounds have eroded away leaving deep gullies that give the appearance they may cave in entrapping the viewer if approached too closely” (Long, 18). Black Canyon is another photograph taken in Sahara Woods. “Once again the unsettling feeling evoked by the surrounding image spurs the desire for escape” (Long, 18). In 1999, the reclamation project for Sarah Woods was undertaken by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It involved planting trees, decontaminating the ponds, and removing remains from the mines (“Governor Announces”). When completed, hopefully by 2006, it will become the Sahara Woods State Fish and Wildlife Area. Long also photographed the Will Scarlet site in southern Illinois. Both Broken Trees and Orange and Black Cracks were taken in the vicinity. State and federal administrators, together with the Peabody Coal Company helped to restore the site. There are now numerous varieties of wildlife, trees, wetlands, and farming areas. As the Mineral Information Institute states, “The Will Scarlet Mine is a superb demonstration of the successful integration of efficient mining and successful reclamation practices” (“Reclamation Success”). Long's photographs illustrate the effects mining has on the land. “Many people in the area are not aware of the abuse that has occurred,” Long says. “On a variety of occasions I have been asked where the images where photographed. It comes as a shock to most people to find out just how close to ‘home’ they are found” (Long, 16).
Selected Bibliography “Governor Announces Funding to Develop Former Strip Mine: Sahara Woods on Track to be Southern Illinois Tourist Destination.” Illinois Government News Network. Weblink.
Long, Jonathan. “Pre-Law Wastelands: Abandoned Mine Sites of Southern Illinois.”
MFA thesis, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 2003.
Mineral Information Institute. “Reclamation Success: Will Scarlet Coal Mine Peabody
Coal Company.” Mineral Information Institute. Weblink.
Winkeler, Les. “Sahara Woods May Open by Fall 2006.” The Southern Illinoisan, a Lee
Enterprises subsidiary. Weblink.
Abandoned Mine Lands, Southern Illinois Pictures in the Gallery 
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